Three Rules You Can Live With

In a recent column, I related an earlier experience in finding missing money that I hadn't even known was "missing."  I urged you to visit the same website where I found the treasure to learn whether or not you had some unclaimed money.

One of my respondents volunteered that he and his wife were doing some genealogy on their families and came across a hit on an insurance policy on her late father that had gone forgotten.  It set off a memory about mementoes from her father's estate which included a poster-size, embossed policy certificate.  That turned out to be the proof needed to claim the dormant funds. No, it wasn't a million dollars; in fact, the total sum was less than a thousand, but it was missing money that the daughter was entitled to, and she promptly took the necessary steps to claim it.

Having the story related to me brought an idea that will be the topic of this column.  We have an obsession with privacy that sometimes inhibits our disclosure of sensitive facts to those who need to know.  If a person is named as the beneficiary of an asset upon the death of the owner of that asset, they must be made aware of the bequest. 

The rights of passage are done through the making of a will or a trust, but many of us neglect to take that important step.  A spouse usually knows about the assets of their husband or wife, but the children of the marriage are too often left out of the process, and have no idea what they are entitled to when one or both parents die.

Rule Number One: Make a will, or some instrument to make certain your wishes for inheritance are carried out.

I leave it to you as to how you do that, but unless you have a very small estate, you should at least consult an attorney.  Online wills are fine for estates under $100,000, but larger ones need more work and expertise.

There is nothing to prevent you from advising your children, or any other heir, about your assets.  If you love them enough to leave something, you should also trust them enough to keep your confidence.  They should know if they are secondary beneficiaries on insurance policies or any other financial account, such as a bank account or mutual fund.

You don't have to tell them the worth of the asset, but provide them with the account number and the holder of the funds.  It will make it so much easier to deal with in the event of your sudden demise.

Rule Number 2: Make a list of all of your and your spouse's financial accounts with account numbers. 

You needn't show amounts in the accounts, they will change anyway.  Give a copy of the list to each designated primary and secondary beneficiary, and advise them to keep it in a safe and secure place, such as a safe deposit box.

If you have a "broken" family, that is, not all members get along with you or with each other, you might want to make different lists for each beneficiary showing only the accounts wherein they are entitled.  It is unfortunate that there are many families in this category,  When the separation is dire, you might want to forego Rule 2 and just make the will in Rule 1. 

Rule Number 3: If any life events change, make sure you update the will and the lists.

Life events include any births, deaths, marriages, divorces, adoptions and separations. They also include any changes to the accounts listed, or any new accounts added. Any of these events might call for a revision in beneficiaries, so make certain that the will and your lists are changed accordingly.

There you have it.  These three rules, when properly executed, can ease the burden that loss of a loved one brings.  They also will prevent the loss of property to the state that rightfully belongs to your heirs.

Safety Tip: 9-Volt Batteries

Do you have any 9-volt batteries in your home?  Of course you do.  They are most frequently used in our smoke detectors, but they have several other uses, too.

Storage and disposal of these batteries is very critical, as the position of the terminals so close to each other can easily cause a short, and that in turn can start a fire.  Since they are usually stored in a drawer in the home, this can lead to tragic consequences.

Most batteries have the positive and negative terminals at opposite ends of the unit, but the 9-volt is unique in that it not only has both terminals on one end, but they are less than an inch apart.  The battery is also thin and tall, so it is unstable in the sense that it tips over easily when not in use. It also has the danger of contacting a piece of metal that will conduct between the battery terminals to cause a short.

There is a very easy method to protect your battery from any accidental short that could cause a fire.  Simply buy a roll of 1/2 inch wide electrical tape and place a strip of it over the terminals to keep them from being exposed until you need to use them.  And after you have used them and they are "dead" --  a very deceptive term, because no battery is ever completely dead -- tape the terminals again before recycling them. 

In case you think this warning is unnecessary, just Google the term "9-volt battery fire" (without the quotes, of course) and see how many hits you get.  But if you want to see a very graphic video about the danger, here is one that will do the trick.  Don't fret, there are no charred human remains, but the house certainly did get "toasted."

Potpourri

A follow up to my column on Wodens Day

One of my respondents called to my attention that the Germans have a special word for Wodens Day, or Wednesday.

Notice the German "tag" which means "day" as the last part of their weekdays, as in:

Sunday - Sonntag

Monday - Montag

Tuesday - Dienstag

Thursday - Donnerstag --Dunner is the German word for thunder.

Friday - Freitag

Saturday - Samstag

Wednesday is not in the list as it has no "Tag" or day to its word.

The German Wednesday is Mittwoch which translates to "Midweek".

Okay, we still don't know why Wednesday is spelled W-E-D-N-E-S-D-A-Y!

Thanks anyway, Hank

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Restroom Arithmetic

I was recently in a rest stop on I-81 in Virginia, and on the wall above the urinal was a sign that read:

            "This waterless urinal is earth-friendly. By eliminating the need to 

             flush, we save 40,000 gallons of fresh water per year for each urinal.

             Please do not place any cigarettes or other debris in this urinal."

Now that got me to doing the math, because I estimate that the modern urinal uses only about 2 quarts of water per flush.  Therefore, by the estimate shown, the urinal would be flushed 80,000 times per year, or 220 times per day.  And since there were 4 urinals in that particular restroom, that would make 240,000 flushes per year, or 880 flushes per day for all four, and that presupposes that everyone flushes—which they don't—and that nobody uses the sit-down toilet—which they do.

That, my friends, is a whole lot of males visiting one restroom in Virginia. 

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New use for an old word

Another one of my respondents recently emailed me a new word, but it turns out that it is actually an old word that might have new meaning.  The word:

imbricate  \IM-brih-kut\

adjective - lying lapped over each other in a regular order

In its new meaning it is a verb, and the definition, 'lying', is also a verb, and by the mere addition of a comma, we make the definition:

Lying, lapped over each other in a regular pattern.

So what we have here is a shingle-like overlapping of lies to build a strong cover for the original lie.

Hmmm...  does that sound familiar?

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Déjà vu all over again

My wife and I are avid readers and, we read a mystery that included a real-life person, Alan Turing, the father of modern computers, and breaker of the WWII German Enigma code at Bletchley Park, near London. 

A few days after finishing the book, I saw a news article about the royal pardon of Alan Turing for 'gross indecency' in 1952.  In addition to his great contribution to shortening the war, he was gay, and was caught in a compromising situation with another man some 60-odd years ago.  Now, the Queen has pardoned him -- a few years too late, since he poisoned himself shortly after the indiscretion.

It never ceases to amaze me that I see a name or an occurrence twice within a short period.  I had never heard of Alan Turing before I read that book by David Baldacci. Yet, I came across his name twice in less than a week.

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Global Warming Update

I'm certain we've all seen or read about that Russian ship that was stuck in the ice at Antarctica, and the ice breaker that went after it unsuccessfully.  The Russian scientists, who were on a mission to study global warming, or climate change, as it has now morphed into for PC reasons, had to be airlifted by helicopter and the ship is apparently still stuck fast in the polar ice.

You know, I have a theory about that.  We all wondered what happened to all the ice up north in Greenland and Scandinavia and Alaska that scientists keep telling us is "melting away."  Well, I think I now know where it went.  It didn't melt away after all; it just migrated to Antarctica.  It went south for the winter.

Frozen Niagara

I am always pleased to share information and images that depict the natural wonder near my birthplace and original hometown, and this weekend I have the perfect opportunity. 

The polar vortex (never sure whether that deserves capital letters) has created a strange phenomenon that only occurs about once every fifty years.  Niagara falls has frozen. Well, let me qualify that.  The American Falls has partially frozen over, though there is still a good flow of water over the brink.  The Horseshoe Falls, the Canadian part of Niagara, has never (to my knowledge) frozen.

Some of the pictures you will see in the two articles I've linked to are not current.  They are from past freezes the dates of which are somewhat controversial, but thought to be 1911 and 1936. On those occasions, whenever they were, people actually walked out on the brink of the American Falls and also walked across the ice bridge in the lower Niagara River between the United States and Canada.  From the pictures provided, it appears that the lower ice bridge is probably solid enough for a hike across, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I kind of favor the second article on Frozen Niagara, because it shows several of the earlier freezes, plus a stock shot of the American Falls as it looks in the summertime.

One of my earlier columns was on the topic, The Day They Shut the Water Off , and concerned the time in the 1960s, when a coffer dam was built above the American Falls and the water reduced to a trickle.  That was done so that a study could be performed to determine whether the huge boulders below the falls could be cleared.  The study found that the clearing would only speed up erosion of the falls, so no project was ever started.

I trust that you enjoyed the pictures, and if you've never visited Niagara Falls, put it on your bucket list.  It is a wonder well worth seeing, frozen or flowing.  It is better to visit in warm weather, though.

Missing Money

I’m going to start off the new year for you by possibly giving you money you didn’t even know you already owned.  No, it isn’t a magic trick, and there are no gimmicks, no up-front money you have to send me as a “good faith” token.  This is good, clean and clear cash that is just waiting for you to claim it.

Have I teased your brain cells enough by now to intrigue you? 

Okay, let me tell you a short story of how I earned $78.70 for the price of two postage stamps.  That’s all it took to get me money I had apparently abandoned.

Several years ago I was reading one of the Kim Komando online newsletters, and she gave a tip about claiming lost property.  I followed up with a quick look at the website she had linked to the tip, and I found my name and a former address I had lived at among the other hundreds of names.

I got really curious then and, although I had no inkling of any property I had left behind when I moved from that prior address, I composed a letter to the address listed in the website.  There was even a property ID number for me to include in my inquiry.  I put a forty-two-cent stamp on the envelope and mailed off the letter. (Postage was less costly  then, too)

I received a return letter in the mail, and was required to provide a copy of my driver’s license and my Social Security card to claim my property.  There was no indication of what the property was or how much it was worth.  I was really curious, so I complied with the request and mailed in the proof - another $.42 stamp.  That all occurred on September 23, 2008.

Time passed and I nearly forgot all about the letter and the missing property, whatever it was.  Then, several weeks later, I went to the mailbox and retrieved a letter from the Missouri State Treasurer.  Inside was a check for $78.70 and a brief pre-printed memo.  The check stub only had “abandoned fund” as the category for issuance, so I still had no idea when or where I abandoned that money.

I was not about to question any further the source of my good fortune, but I consider myself pretty meticulous about keeping track of my savings, so I was still in a state of shock over the windfall.  In fact, I've never been able to recall how I was entitled to it.

I know, it wasn't the lottery jackpot, or anything huge, but found money is nothing to complain about.

Now, here is all you have to do to see if you might also qualify to claim some lost or abandoned property.  Merely log on to the Internet and go to www.missingmoney.com.  If that seems too difficult, just type the two words "missing money" (minus the quotes) into your favorite search engine and it will lead you to the website.  There is a box near the top where you can type in your first and last names and your current state of residence.  Then move the cursor over to the GO magnifying glass and click on it.

You will get a list of names similar to yours—hopefully with yours among them—and all the states where these individuals have lost property to be claimed.  You can narrow the field by checking the street addresses, also given in most cases, to see if you are one of the claimants.

If your name and a current or former address appear on the listing, click on the name and it will give you some details along with the state where the property is held, a property ID number, and the state contact information for inquiry.  Just follow the directions on the page and send off a letter. 

I know there might be some concern about identity theft when you are required to send your personal identification, but I never had any kind of repercussion from my disclosure, so I believe it is completely safe.  That requirement doesn't occur until after you've sent the letter anyway, so visiting the Missing Money website presents no risk.

If you are male and married, you should also try the name inquiry with your spouse’s former name.  There might be something that she left behind, too.

I hope you are as fortunate as I was and can reclaim something you left behind.  This is one time when I can say and truly mean “Good Luck!”

With Charity for All

I like to end the year on a positive note, and there have been many acts and events this past year that have had positive impact on our lives.  It is tiresome and depressing to see the huge number of negative email messages and news reports that come across the ethernet.  Frankly, many of them are either false, or are questionable in content. That keeps websites like Snopes and TruthorFiction busy, but it also distorts reality.

Here is my candidate for most positive story of 2013.

You may have heard about or read this story already.  It was disclosed last week that a man from Calgary, who won a Canadian lottery prize back in May, and somehow kept it secret for all this time, has decided to donate the entire $40 million prize to charity.

Tom Crist, a 64-year-old retired widower, has set up a trust fund along with his adult children to give away the prize money to various charitable organizations, but most of it is slated for the Canadian Cancer Society and the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.  He has already cut a cheque - Canadians spell funny - for $1.2 million to the latter charity.

Mr. Crist says that he has done quite well for himself and his children in his 44 year working career and he really doesn't need the money. 

Well, I say "Wow" to that!

The reasoning behind the gift is understandable, as well.  Tom lost his wife of 33 years to cancer two years ago after a six year battle with the disease.  What a wonderful gesture he is making to help in finding a cure!

The above story might have been the apex, but in doing the research on it, I found that this isn't the first time a Canadian has donated their winnings to charity.  Three years ago, 84-year-old Allen Large and his wife Violet won a lottery prize of over $11 million.  They promptly gave away their winnings, too.  Afterwards, they both said they never felt so good.

When Mr. Large was interviewed, he said that he and his wife had saved over $2  million for retirement and didn't have any need for the lottery winnings.  They did give $100,000 to each of 12 relatives before they made the charitable donations, but they never spent a penny of it on themselves.

In the same article, it was reported that another generous Canadian, Bob Erb, won $25 million in a 2012 Lotto Max drawing, and has donated over $8 million.  While he didn't give it all away, he has given the maximum he can without hurting his bank balance.

The above stories have me wondering if American lottery winners are as kind and generous with their winnings.  I cannot recall any stories similar to these about our winners, but it is true that we, as a people, are the most generous on earth.

With that in mind, I wish you a very happy and prosperous new year in 2014, and I hope that, if you are fortunate enough to win the lottery, we will see an article about your gift to charity with the proceeds.  In other words, I trust that you are in a position where you don't need to win the lottery to live well and prosper.

Wodens Day

Have you ever wondered why the day we term "Humpday" is spelled Wednesday?  I sure have, and I just recently thought I learned why.  It was so interesting, along with the names of the other six days of the week, that I want to share it with you. 

Now, I cannot claim credit for all this research, because I do have a source and a good one at that; California Technical Institute, (a.k.a. CalTech).  And I could just give you the link to their website and let you look it up for yourself, but I'd rather risk charges of plagiarism and print out the text for you.

I received a message from my nephew, Dan, with the subject line: Wodens Day, and I was at a loss to figure out what that meant, so I asked in my reply.  Here is what I received as his follow up.

Woden was a Germanic god (Saxon, but based on the Norse 'Odin'), from whom the name Wednesday derives...

From the Caltech website:

Origin of the Names of the Days of the Week

• Sunday: Sunnenday (Middle English translation of Greek Hemera heliou): the sun's day,
• Monday: Monan daeg (Anglo Saxon, monan, moon; daeg, Anglo Saxon, day): the moon's day,
• Tuesday: Tiwes daeg (Anglo Saxon Tiw, war god, related to Greek god Zeus): Tiw's day,
• Wednesday: Woensdag (Danish, Woen, Woden, Chief Norse god, Frigga's husband; dag, day): Woden's day,
• Thursday: Thursdaeg (Old English; Thorr, Icelandic, thundergod): Thor's day,
• Friday: Frigedaeg (Anglo Saxon; Frige, Frigga, chief Norse goddess, Woden's wife): Frigga's day,
• Saturday: Saeterdaeg (Anglo Saxon; Saeter, Saturn, Roman god of time): Saturn's day.

(Dan's words) Interestingly, although the names sound entirely different, the gods used on each day correspond to the same roman gods used to name the same days of the week in the Romance Languages, and ALSO correspond to the same 7 moving heavenly bodies known to the Greeks as 'planetas', or 'wanderers' (the Sun and Moon were 2 of the 7 planets because these 7 objects uniquely moved through the fixed stars) - that's why, although your hands have 5 digits, and the natural units with which to count are 5s and 10s, there are 7 days of the week!  In 'calendric' order:  Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn [Uranus and Neptune are too dim to be seen with the unaided eye].

Well, I still don't know why they spell that middle day of the week W-e-d-n-e-s-d-a-y.  Do you?  Does anyone know?